Hi guyz,
This is to share a quick tale of how a $250 investment reaped great results.
During Oct 2007 I placed a property on the market and got little, if any interest. Although tenanted, it presented well but alas, no interest, no offers - "dead in the water" as they say.
I then rang a contact I met some time back - professional consultant who advises on interior / exterior colour schemes and renos etc.
She attended the property with a brief - "best bang for my bucks" !
Her plan to give the property more appeal to the primary market - first home buyer - was as follows;
That sounds a lot but in reality it wasn't.
Final cost about $8k - most of which was the painter ($4.5k)
Start to finish, about two weeks.
Her advise was that most of it was about effect - the buyer would say in their mind they will (later on) buy the backings for the curtains, replace the hard wearing carpet with a softer one etc etc but in reality, they probably never will, so don't waste your money on those things as they wont add any extra value. Just let them fall in love with "the look".
Result - Placed back on market and had signed contract in hand in under 10 days for a whisker short of the asking price which was now $9k more! (and some $25k more than best previous offer)
So why do I think this was a great result?
I'm now in the hunt for a good reno property and will most certainly use her services again as I am confident a professional colour scheme will out-perform anything I can come up with.
And when you consider paint costs pretty much the same regardless of the colour and the same goes for other things like blinds, curtains, carpet etc, then her consultancy costs are negligable.
Enjoy.
This is to share a quick tale of how a $250 investment reaped great results.
During Oct 2007 I placed a property on the market and got little, if any interest. Although tenanted, it presented well but alas, no interest, no offers - "dead in the water" as they say.
I then rang a contact I met some time back - professional consultant who advises on interior / exterior colour schemes and renos etc.
She attended the property with a brief - "best bang for my bucks" !
Her plan to give the property more appeal to the primary market - first home buyer - was as follows;
- Repaint all rooms in neutral colour with feature wall in lounge and main bedroom.
- Replace carpets with a budget quality sisal type, beige carpet
- Replace light fittings with an oyster type to help lift the ceiling
- Replace curtains with budget eyelet type (no backing)
- Leave everything else as is
That sounds a lot but in reality it wasn't.
Final cost about $8k - most of which was the painter ($4.5k)
Start to finish, about two weeks.
Her advise was that most of it was about effect - the buyer would say in their mind they will (later on) buy the backings for the curtains, replace the hard wearing carpet with a softer one etc etc but in reality, they probably never will, so don't waste your money on those things as they wont add any extra value. Just let them fall in love with "the look".
Result - Placed back on market and had signed contract in hand in under 10 days for a whisker short of the asking price which was now $9k more! (and some $25k more than best previous offer)
So why do I think this was a great result?
- The property had almost zero appeal prior to the reno
- I covered costs
- The property now had a wow factor that converted to high appeal.
- I sold the property and avoided the usual Xmas / Jan slump - "bird in the hand...".
- Learned how important colour and "first impressions" are to the buyer
I'm now in the hunt for a good reno property and will most certainly use her services again as I am confident a professional colour scheme will out-perform anything I can come up with.
And when you consider paint costs pretty much the same regardless of the colour and the same goes for other things like blinds, curtains, carpet etc, then her consultancy costs are negligable.
Enjoy.
